Acknowledging the perfect joy of suffering in Christ, but having a little fun along the way.

Why I should be able to order red wine in a Muslim-owned restaurant

Let's say Dear Husband and I head out for a fine dinner on the town. We've heard of a new place with great food, and are eager to try it out.

When we arrive, are seated and handed the menu, we see that there is no alcohol listed. None. Not a drop. We ask our server about this, and he replies, "The owners are Muslims. It is against their religious beliefs to have alcohol on the premises or to serve it."

Aghast, we are! Red wine is healthy! No less an authority than the Mayo Clinic says so! It is part of Dear Husband's and my health regimen to imbibe one glass of red wine with our evening meal. Not having it available is - well, threatening to our health! We demand red wine now!

The owner comes out. He explains that drinking or serving alcohol is a violation of his religious beliefs, but promises us a delightful meal, sans alcohol. "NO! Not good enough. You are forcing your religious beliefs on us - how dare you!"

Perhaps, the owner suggests, this is not the restaurant for us. There are several in the area he can recommend, all serving alcohol.

But, we reply, we want alcohol HERE and NOW! It is our right. This isn't Prohibition, buddy. This is our health we're talking about. By golly, even if the owner has to go out and buy a damn bottle of wine, we're getting our wine, NOW!

We point out that many Muslims drink alcohol. Why doesn't he?? The owner states it is his understanding of the Qu'ran and how it is to be lived that alcohol is prohibited. He can't speak for other Muslims - only himself. It would go against his conscience to serve alcohol.

At this point, Dear Husband and I know we have only one recourse: the Federal Government MUST step in and force this man to serve us alcohol. It is our right, it is for our health, and we don't give a damn about his religious beliefs.

And the groundwork for this has cleverly been laid by Mr. Obama, so we should get results quickly. After all, what we want trumps any one's religious beliefs in this country, right?

I live in England and we have a lot of restaurants that do not serve alcohol, mainly "Indian" restaurants but they are actually run and owned by people from lots of different countries(Pakistan and Bangladesh to name just a couple) Although not all of these resaurants are owned or run by muslims a lot are and I dont know if the reason they do not serve alcohol is religious or not but we have a lot of unlicenced restaurants. So you take your own alcohol if you want it. The only drinks you can buy on the premises are soft drinks or water or tea and coffee. Might be an option ? I mean do we have Catholic run restaurants that refuse to serve meat on Fridays ? Sorry I dont have a blog thing dont mean to be anon

Dear English reader, Actually, I was making a point re' the fight here in the US of the government forcing Catholic employers to cover birth control, sterilization, etc. It's not really about getting a drink in a restaurant....

Your restaurant owner fairly and conscientiously offered recommendations on restaurants where you could imbibe Etoh if that was your pleasure.

Unless Catholic charities and hospitals are willing to facilitate the transfer of their highly trained and in demand admins, healthcare workers and support staff to other organizations, then I think the analogy fails.

@The Canadian commentator. Um, religious organizations aren't forced to pay for medical care in Canada. Single payer insurance does. Catholic hospitals don't even need to perform elective abortions, so long as a comparable service is available within a reasonable distance and they provide a reference. Well, at least that's ON/OHIP and MB/MB Health.

Point taken! The hospital can certainly offer - conscientiously - information on abstinence, the dangers of chemical birth control, training in Natural Family Planning, etc. Are you okay with that?

And of course, this entire argument is NOT about access to artificial birth control, but rather whether or not the government can dictate to religious organization what they must say or do. If my child cannot publicly lead a prayer at her public high school graduation, why can the government tell my Church they must sell birth control and pay for sterilizations?

Similarly, the owner could have offered us grape juice, which we refuse. While grape juice has the same health benefits as red wine, it does not have the intoxicating effect which we also desire. We want our cake, and to eat it, too, you see.